Biden White House clashes with media after asking for pre-written questions

White House reporters have said that the Biden press office's request to be sent questions ahead of briefings undermine his promise to respect a free press. Sending in questions ahead of time could give the appearance that reporters are cooperating with the administration.

“It p***ed off enough reporters for people to flag it for the [White House Correspondents’ Association] for them to deal with it,” a source said according to The Daily Beast, which writes that three people say the White House press team have asked what questions journalists are planning to ask during briefings.

When the subject was raised during a White House Correspondents Association Zoom call Friday, reporters were advised not to acquiesce to the requests. Journalists were told to push back against or ignore the inquiries.

One White House reporter told The Daily Beast: “While it’s a relief to see briefings return, particularly with a commitment to factual information, the press can't really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want. That's not really a free press at all.”

After former President Trump repeatedly called the press the "enemy of the people" and his press team had an adversarial relationship with reporters, the Biden operation is trying to make a U-turn in press relations by following the facts and reinstating the daily press briefing.

A White House spokesperson argued that asking what questions were bound to come up was part of an effort to offer thorough responses and avoid dodging questions during briefings.

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“Our goal is to make the daily briefing as useful and informative as possible for both reporters and the public. Part of meeting that objective means regularly engaging with the reporters who will be in the briefing room to understand how the White House can be most helpful in getting them the information they need. That two-way conversation is an important part of keeping the American people updated about how government is serving them," the spokesperson told The Daily Beast.

Former Trump press secretary and current candidate for Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked some outlets what they were about to ask before larger Trump press conferences during her tenure in the West Wing. Obama and Bush staffers asked for outlines of questions ahead of interviews with cabinet secretaries.

Obama deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told The Daily Beast that finding out what reporters are working on is “textbook communications work. The briefing becomes meaningless if the press secretary has to repeatedly punt questions, instead of coming equipped to discuss what journalists are reporting on. In a non-Covid environment, this would happen in casual conversations throughout the day... One of the few upsides to reporters hovering over your desk all day, is that you get a very quick sense of what they’re working on”.